At Lockwood Canine Training Center Julie believes that “training” your dog is a process that involves building the right relationship between the dog and his or her owner.

The correct relationship is built by developing mutual respect and understanding. The owner should begin this process by learning what expectations are realistic for their dog. The owner must also learn how to use obedience to develop good habits in their dog and how to behave in a consistent manner so the dog can learn through repetition the rules the owner wants him or her to obey. When the dog discovers that obedience to his owner is rewarding and earns him the things he likes, the dog will come to understand how the owner’s human world works and respect the owner as a fair and consistent leader who is a pleasure to obey.

Julie always starts the training process by educating the owner on the facts of their dog’s true nature so the owner can understand their dog’s motivation to do certain things. She then shows the owner how they can unintentionally teach their dog “bad” behaviors by how they interact with him or her. Finally, through obedience training, she teaches the owner how to develop clear communication with their dog and how to use that communication to teach the dog desirable behaviors that soon become habits through consistent application.
Julie also believes that all problem behaviors are reduced or resolved by following this guideline:

1. Understand the dog’s motivation to engage in a particular behavior and address any physiological or medical reasons that may cause or worsen that behavior.

2. Make sure the owner has reasonable expectations regarding their dog’s behavior. Expectations should be age and breed appropriate. A dog can not be expected to perform beyond his/her level of maturity nor be expected to behave in complete conflict to strong, natural genetic instincts.

3. Manage the dog’s environment to prevent the “practice” of the undesirable behavior. Remember, any behavior a dog finds fun, rewarding or stress-relieving will become a permanent habit if he or she is allowed to practice that behavior. By managing the dog through proper confinement, observation and keeping the dog leashed and under your control, you can prevent the bad behavior from becoming an engrained habit until training can occur. As the dog becomes better trained, you can rely on that training and reduce the need for management as a way to prevent bad behaviors.

4. Reward good behaviors. Watch what your dog does and give him attention when he is being good. Frequently, we ignore our dogs when they are being good. Think about it! It is easy to ignore a dog when it is lying calmly on a mat in the living room. It is almost impossible to ignore a dog that is jumping on you or running around the kitchen with your shoe in his mouth. Obedience training is a good way to increase good behaviors your dog can perform and be rewarded for. The more time your dog is engaging in good behaviors, the less time and energy he has for bad behaviors.

5. Correct undesirable behaviors after your dog knows what the rules are at your house. A major reason for teaching your dog formal obedience commands is to give you a way to show your dog what your rules are. It is not fair to tell your dog what not to do without teaching him what you want him to do. If a situation calls for a correction, it is important that the right correction is applied that will stop the dog from engaging in the undesirable behavior. A correction should not make him fearful or make him think you are just playing! Your dog should then be guided (using obedience) into engaging in a good behavior and be rewarded for that good behavior.

6. Be consistent. Remember, it takes a dog at least 5 weeks to “learn” something. That means it is important that the dog not be allowed to make mistakes during the first five weeks of training to ensure optimal results. Think about it! Your broken arm wouldn’t heal if you kept removing the cast every few days!
I believe that training a dog to be an “obedient” dog is like teaching a human to be a good driver. Both can go to school to learn the rules, but we all understand that just knowing the rules is not enough. Otherwise, no one who had completed a drivers training course would ever drive over the speed limit or roll through a stop sign! Humans need sufficient positives (good driver discounts) and negatives (speeding tickets) to sufficiently motivate them to follow the rules they learned in class. Dogs also need enough positive and negative motivation to go beyond just “knowing” their obedience commands to being a happily obedient dog!